In the final 12 seconds, Anthony Edwards scored 23 points and hit three of four free throws to help the Minnesota Timberwolves defeat the Golden State Warriors 114-110 on Sunday night.
The Wolves equaled their season high with 21 made 3-pointers, led by 20 points and a season-high tying 12 rebounds from Naz Reid and 12 points and 12 rebounds from Rudy Gobert.
With 1:27 remaining, Steph Curry attempted a game-winning 3-point shot but missed it, giving the Warriors a 31-point lead. At the opposite end, Gobert made both free throws to give his team a five-point advantage.
With 22.6 seconds remaining, Curry forced an airballed 3-pointer by Edwards and went all the way to the hoop to trim the lead to one. However, Edwards committed two fouls after being fouled. Then he pulled down Klay Thompson’s erroneous wing 3-pointer.
For the Wolves (49-22), who are one game behind Denver (50-21) in the Western Conference standings and a half-game behind Oklahoma City (49-21), Mike Conley contributed 14 points and seven assists. After the Thunder’s Sunday loss in Milwaukee, the Nuggets advanced.
With Curry—the most prolific 3-point shooter in NBA history—on the opposite side, the Warriors lead by 12 points at the half and 54-46 at the half. However, the Wolves honored him with an impressive outside shooting performance.The Wolves used a plus-12 stretch to get back in front thanks to the substitutions, with Curry taking a break late in the third and early in the fourth quarter. During that run, Nickeil Alexander-Walker made three 3-pointers.
Golden State only made one trip to Minnesota this season, so both teams had over four months to recover from the two games the Wolves won in San Francisco, the second of which Draymond Green was sent off from for placing Gobert in a headlock in the first minutes.
The Warriors (36-34), who are behind Houston (35-35) by just one game, are in a perilous position as they attempt to maintain their grasp on 10th place in the Western Conference and the final play-in slot. They were embarrassed by their lack of effort in a 12-point loss to Indiana at home on Friday.
Although this was a positive response to begin a five-game journey over eight days, the outcome fell short of the expectations.
Reid saved them once more after the Wolves committed eight turnovers in their opening 17 possessions in less than eight minutes. The Wolves also hit a season low with 18 points in the first quarter.
In a decisive victory over Cleveland on Friday, the fan favorite, who thrilled the Target Center crowd with 18 points on his beach towel giveaway night, made his first five 3-pointers to stabilize an offense that was otherwise off-kilter with errant dribbles, awkward spacing, and mishandled balls.
In 15 games played versus the Warriors, Reid’s scoring average is 14.6, which is second-highest of his career when compared to other NBA teams.
